“That so?”
“And he's taken his ticket for Alexandria,” Westover pursued.
“Well, I guess that's so.” Whitwell tilted his backward sloping hat to one side, so as to scratch the northeast corner of his bead thoughtfully.
“But as far as that is concerned,” said Westover, “and the doctrine of immortality generally is concerned, Jackson will have his hands full if he studies the Egyptian monuments.”
“What they got to do with it?”
“Everything. Egypt is the home of the belief in a future life; it was carried from Egypt to Greece. He might come home by way of Athens.”
“Why, man!” cried Whitwell. “Do you mean to say that them old Hebrew saints, Joseph's brethren, that went down into Egypt after corn, didn't know about immortality, and them Egyptian devils did?”
“There's very little proof in the Old Testament that the Israelites knew of it.”
Whitwell looked at Jackson. “That the idee you got?”
“I guess he's right,” said Jackson. “There's something a little about it in Job, and something in the Psalms: but not a great deal.”